Urotensin II is a cyclic 11-amino acid peptide neurohormone considered to be the most potent vasoconstrictor known, up to 28-fold more potent than endothelin-1. The effects of urotensin II are mediated through activation of a G-protein coupled receptor, the UT receptor, also known as GPR14 or SENR (Ames R S, et al, “Human urotensin-II is a potent vasoconstrictor and agonist for the orphan receptor GPR14” Nature (1999) 401, 282-6. Mori M, Sugo T, Abe M, Shimomura Y, Kurihara M, Kitada C, Kikuchi K, Shintani Y, Kurokawa T, Onda H, Nishimura O, Fujino M. “Urotensin II is the endogenous ligand of a G-protein-coupled orphan receptor, SENR (GPR14)” Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. (1999) 265, 123-9. Liu Q, Pong S S, Zeng Z, et al, “Identification of urotensin II as the endogenous ligand for the orphan G-protein-coupled receptor GPR14” Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. (1999) 266, 174-178.) Urotensin II and its receptor are conserved across evolutionarily distant species, suggesting an important physiological role for the system (Bern H A, Pearson D, Larson B A, Nishioka R S. “Neurohormones from fish tails: the caudal neurosecretory system. I. Urophysiology and the caudal neurosecretory system of fishes” Recent Prog. Horm. Res. (1985) 41, 533-552). In euryhaline fish, urotensin II has an osmoregulatory role, and in mammals urotensin II exerts potent and complex hemodynamic actions. The response to urotensin II is dependent on the anatomical source and species of the tissue being studied. (Douglas S A, Sulpizio A C, Piercy V, Sarau H M, Ames R S, Aiyar N V, Ohlstein E H, Willette R N. “Differential vasoconstrictor activity of human urotensin-II in vascular tissue isolated from the rat, mouse, dog, pig, marmoset and cynomolgus monkey” Br. J. Pharmacol. (2000) 131, 1262-1274. Douglas, S A, Ashton D J, Sauermelch C F, Coatney R W, Ohistein D H, Ruffolo M R, Ohistein E H, Aiyar N V, Willette R “Human urotensin-II is a potent vasoactive peptide: pharmacological characterization in the rat, mouse, dog and primate” J. Cardiovasc. Pharmacol. (2000) 36, Suppl 1:S163-6).
Like other neurohormones, urotensin II has growth stimulating and profibrotic actions in addition to its vasoactive properties. Urotensin II increases smooth muscle cell proliferation, and stimulates collagen synthesis (Tzandis A, et al, “Urotensin II stimulates collagen synthesis by cardiac fibroblasts and hypertrophic signaling in cardiomyocytes via G(alpha)q- and Ras-dependent pathways” J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. (2001) 37, 164A. Zou Y, Nagai R, and Yamazaki T, “Urotensin II induces hypertrophic responses in cultured cardiomyocytes from neonatal rats” FEBS Lett (2001) 508, 57-60). Urotensin II regulates hormone release (Silvestre R A, et al, “Inhibition of insulin release by urotensin II-a study on the perfused rat pancreas” Horm Metab Res (2001) 33, 379-81). Urotensin II has direct actions on atrial and ventricular myocytes (Russell F D, Molenaar P, and O'Brien D M “Cardiostimulant effects of urotensin-II in human heart in vitro” Br. J. Pharmacol. (2001) 132, 5-9). Urotensin II is produced by cancer cell lines and its receptor is also expressed in these cells. (Takahashi K, et al, “Expression of urotensin II and urotensin II receptor mRNAs in various human tumor cell lines and secretion of urotensin Il-like immunoreactivity by SW-13 adrenocortical carcinoma cells” Peptides (2001) 22, 1175-9). Urotensin II and its receptor are found in spinal cord and brain tissue, and intracerebroventricular infusion of urotensin II into mice induces behavioral changes (Gartlon J, et al, “Central effects of urotensin-II following ICV administration in rats” Psychopharmacology (Berlin) (2001) 155, 426-33).
Dysregulation of urotensin II is associated with human disease. Elevated circulating levels of urotensin II are detected in hypertensive patients, in heart failure patients, and in patients awaiting kidney transplantation (Totsune K, et al, “Role of urotensin II in patients on dialysis” Lancet (2001) 358, 810-1).
Substances with the ability to block the actions of urotensin II are expected to prove useful in the treatment of various diseases. WO-2001/45694, WO-2002/78641, WO-2002/78707, WO-2002/79155, and WO-2002/79188 disclose certain sulfonamides as urotensin II receptor antagonists, and their use to treat diseases associated with a urotensin II imbalance. WO-2001/45700 and WO-2001/45711 disclose certain pyrrolidines or piperidines as urotensin II receptor antagonists and their use to treat diseases associated with a urotensin II imbalance. These derivatives are different from the compounds of the present invention as they do not comprise urea derivatives bearing a 4-pyridinyl-like moiety. WO-2002/047687 discloses certain 2-amino-quinolones as urotensin 11 receptor antagonists and their use to treat diseases associated with a urotensin 11 imbalance. WO-2002/058702 discloses certain 2-amino-quinolines as urotensin II receptor antagonists and their use to treat diseases associated with a urotensin II imbalance. These derivatives are different from the compounds of the present invention as they do not bear a substituted urea function in the 4-position of the quinoline ring. WO-2001/66143 discloses certain 2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]quinolin-4-ylamine derivatives useful as urotensin II receptor antagonists, WO-2002/00606 discloses certain biphenyl compounds useful as urotensin II receptor antagonists, and WO-2002/02530 also discloses certain compounds useful as urotensin II receptor antagonists.
EP 428434 discloses certain alkylureidopyridines as neurokinin and substance P antagonists. WO-99/21835 discloses certain ureidoquinolines as H+-ATPase and bone resorption inhibitors. WO-01/009088 discloses certain substituted heteroarylureas as inhibitors of the CCR-3 receptor. All of these ureidopyridine derivatives differ in their composition from compounds of the present invention. The present invention comprises N-(cyclic amino alkyl)-N′-pyridin-4-yl urea derivatives which are novel compositions of matter and which are useful as urotensin II receptor antagonists.